Gas bills set for suprise fall

A HUGE new source of gas will flow into Britain from Monday and its early arrival will help cut domestic and industry energy bills.

Gas will be piped ashore at Easington in East Yorkshire from Norway's Langeled field 745 miles away and within three weeks will be flowing fast enough to supply 10% of the UK's annual gas demand.

By early next year, supplies of natural gas from the field, via the world's longest undersea pipeline, will supply 20% of domestic needs.

The earlier-than-expected gas flows, combined with forecasts of a mild winter, mean prices have peaked and will fall early next year.

That is good news for consumers who have been hit with huge price rises, the most recent being last week's 17% increase from npower for its 6m customers.

Centrica, owner of British Gas, will manage the new £60m terminal at Easington.

Along with an upgrade of the existing Interconnector pipe from Belgium, due in November, and a new pipeline from the Netherlands, which is due in December, Britain should have ample supplies of gas by early next year.

Economists at Centrica believe that these investments will boost supplies by 50% over last year's figure.

Privately, key executives are confident that Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks is wrong in his assessment that it will be a tight winter as far as gas supplies are concerned.

Already, winter wholesale gas prices have started to fall slightly from unprecedented highs on the belief from traders that more gas will flow this winter from Norway and the Netherlands.

The start-up of Langeled, the largest gas import project in the UK, will be a welcome boost to Centrica and British Gas, which has been repeatedly blamed for pushing up gas prices.

The company is likely to receive about a fifth of the gas from the Langeled pipeline through its 10-year, £6bn contract with Statoil.

Jake Ulrich, managing director of Centrica Energy, said: 'As major gas import pipelines such as Langeled move into operation, the UK can start turning the corner by accessing more diverse and plentiful energy supplies for this winter and winters ahead.'